HAR §11-35-8. Preparation of shellfish for marketing

(a) Relaying. (1) The relaying of market-size shellfish from a prohibited or restricted area to an approved area shall be conducted only with the written permission and under the supervision of the department. (2) Shellfish from public waters shall only be relaid with the permission of the department of land and natural resources. (3) Shellfish relaid from a prohibited or restricted area to an approved area shall be kept in such an area for at least fourteen consecutive days and shall be harvested only with the written consent from the department and under its supervision. Such an area shall be located and marked so that it may be readily identified to prevent accidental harvesting and to prevent shellfish in adjacent approved areas from contamination. Further need for holding shall be determined by laboratory tests and evaluation of such data by the department. (b) Depuration. (1) Shellfish from prohibited areas shall not be depurated. (2) Shellfish from a restricted area shall only be harvested with the permission of the department of land and natural resources (if public waters) and shall be subjected to an effective depuration process. (3) The department shall monitor the sanitary quality of all harvesting, transporting and depurating operations of shellfish from restricted growing areas. Shellfish from a restricted are all be depurated for not less than forty-eight hours to achieve fifty fecal coliforms or less per one hundred grams of meat. (4) An effective depuration facility shall be available in artificial growing systems if human pathogens have been demonstrated to occur in the growing waters. All shellfish lots to be marketed shall be depurated at least twenty-four hours immediately after harvesting. Subsequent lots of shellfish shall be depurated until the department is satisfied by available monitoring data or a sanitary evaluation that the sources of contamination are absent. (5) Construction of a depuration facility. (A) Consultation with the department is advised prior to the construction and operation of a depuration plant. (B) Plants in which shellfish are depurated shall be so located that they are not subject to flooding by high tides, storm waters, and other pollution sources. (C) A depuration facility shall be so constructed that depurated shellstock are not recontaminated or are not accidentally commingled with shellstock to be depurated. (D) Process tanks and shellstock containers used for depuration purposes shall be of sufficient size and shape, constructed of corrosion-resistant material, kept in good repair at all times, and not subject to external contamination. (E) Regulations for storage, processing, sewage facilities shall be in accordance with §11-35-9. (6) Seawater system. (A) Hydraulic appurtenances shall be corrosion-resistant and non-toxic to shellfish and humans. (B) Water used in a depuration facility shall meet approved growing water standards and should favor maximum physiological activity of the shellfish so as to achieve purification. (C) Water used in the depuration facility shall be subjected to an effective sterilization process such as ultraviolet (UV) light or ozonization unless the water is obtained from a protected well source and if the fetal coliform is less than two per one hundred ml. (7) Plant operations. (A) Washing and culling-shellfish shall be washed to remove matter which would contaminate the water of the depuration facility, and culled to provide proper disposal of broken-shelled, dead or gaping shellfish. After the depuration process, shellstock shall be washed to remove the feces produced by the shellfish during the process and culled to dispose of dead or gaping shellfish which may have been missed on the first washing and culling. (B) Process tanks and shellstock containers shall be cleaned and sanitized after each depuration process. (C) Monitoring of plant operations-Accurate and up-to-date records of the quality and the flow rate of the water shall be kept. Physiochemical parameters of untreated and treated water should be monitored so as to determine the efficiency of the treatment units. (D) A record shall be kept of the amount of shellfish depurated, the period of time the shellfish were depurated and the person to whom the shellfish were sold. Such records shall be made available to the director upon request. [Eff. SEP 18 1981] (Auth: HRS §§321-9, 321-10, 321-11, 328-21) (Imp: HRS §§321-11, 328-21)